Pharmaceutical company shareholders were “spooked” this week after President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would appoint Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
“The impact on the sector is hard to judge fully at this stage but, at the very least, it will cause a good deal of uncertainty,” he explained, according to a BBC report. It also noted that shares in companies that make vaccines and in healthcare firms dropped sharply worldwide after the Thursday announcement.
According to the BBC report, shares in Pfizer sank more than 4% and Moderna about 7% in the U.S. following the Kennedy announcement. Pfizer and Moderna produced COVID-19 vaccines distributed in the U.S. during the pandemic. In Europe, vaccine producers AstraZeneca and GSK were also hit by the news.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer and member of the prominent Kennedy family, is a vocal vaccine skeptic. He founded the Children’s Health Defense non-profit for “vaccine injured children” and even compared some of the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts to Nazi Germany.
Last month, Kennedy said in an X post that the “[U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s] war on public health is about to end,” including, in his words, “its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.” He also warned current employees to pack their bags.
Reuters said any changes Kennedy wants to make will “come up against a pharmaceutical industry that pays much of the regulator’s bills.”
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” said Trump regarding Kennedy’s appointment. “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”
He added that: “Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
“I’m committed to advancing your vision to Make America Healthy Again. We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic,” said Kennedy in response. “I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.”
Per the BBC, many public health officials are critical of Kennedy and his expected approach to leading the HHS. Some have denounced the former independent presidential candidate for spreading false information.
On the other hand, he “has gained a following by tapping into mistrust of those who see U.S. regulators as too deferential to big food and medical companies,” the BBC said.
Indeed, Kennedy isn’t alone in his criticisms of the U.S. healthcare system – including the system as it stood when Trump was last in office. For example, the Center for American Progress said in 2019 that: “It’s no secret that the Trump administration has fostered a culture of corruption in which special interests and big donors advance their interests at the expense of everyday people. Perhaps no policy area exemplifies this corruption more than the issue of drug pricing.”
“One of the most remarkable aspects of the populist alliance between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Donald Trump is that it puts the incoming Republican administration at loggerheads with the very Big Pharma, Big Food and Big Agricultural interests that have been traditional bastions of Republican support,” said Brian Robertson, a former senior policy advisor who worked for the Trump administration at both HHS and the Department of State in an op-ed published this week in The Hill.
In its report, the BBC said that Kennedy’s plans for the HHS would be a change from both Trump’s former administration – which supported the development of COVID-19 vaccines – and the current administration. Additionally, Trump “drew alarm” from the industry with plans to lower drug prices and make it easier to import medicine from Canada.
This year, the Office for the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation also reported that it contracted with RAND Health Care to carry out three studies analyzing data on U.S. prescription drug prices and availability compared to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. These studies indicated that, as of 2022 under the administration of President Joe Biden, U.S. prices across all drugs (brands and generics) were nearly 2.78 times as high as prices in the comparison countries.
“Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” said Kennedy this week. “I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families. My commitment to the American people is to be an honest public servant. Let’s go!”
Kennedy is expected to have authority over the agencies responsible for public health, government-funded health insurance plans for more than 140 million people.
FDA officials were not immediately available to comment on the Kennedy nomination, said Reuters, while the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said it wanted to work with the Trump administration to improve health for patients.
Apart from Kennedy, Trump’s cabinet appointments, from Elon Musk to Matt Gaetz and Tulsi Gabbard, have been met with surprise and controversy.